Joan Bakewell is the "thinking man's crumpet", and cannot be redefined by some jonny-come-lately iJournos :(

The damage has already been done with the casting of Catherine Tate as a companion. Doesn't matter if they get Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale as pvc-clad goth vampiresses I still won't be watching.

I'm not going to be watching that series while the talent void that is Tate is on it. Worst casting ever (and I'm including every film with Andie MacDowell in that list). Bulldog chewing a wasp.

I'll be watching the one with Kylie in it though, obviously. No point cutting off your nose to spite your face, is there?

Catherine Tate makes me want to stab myself in the face...

that Catherine Tate is a very poor choice for the companion.

Her acting performance in the earlier episode left a lot to be desired.

Just ditch that talentless beached whale Tate and do us all a favour. Bring back Freeman, she can actually act and is very easy on the eye which is a bonus. Tate's about as funny a dose of the clap and couldn't act if her waistline depended on it.

Oh dear. To think that I'm now old enough to have witnessed the handover of the TTMC title to Felicity Kendal. I don't remember reading Joan Bakewell's obit. Or has she moved on to TTPC (The Thinking Pensioner's Crumpet?)

Oh. Felicity Kendall. Oh well...

Surely everyone's favourite 'OBG' would be Joanna Lumley?

I remember watching 'The New Avengers' at around 8 years old and wondering why she made me feel...er...'strange'!

...she's still pretty much one of the best things on TV now. I don't really watch 'Sensitive Skin' for any other reason...

Kylie will certainly be on my hand over xmas.

...everything to be filmed or set in Cardiff, clearly the centre of the world's supernatural phenomena?

And will Mr T Davies write in some more gay material (which he is clearly aching to do, as if the queens of Torchwood weren't enough) for what used to be family viewing?

Russell may have revived Doctor Who and reinvigorated it, but isn't it (and he) sometimes just a little too smug and full of itself? Of course Sylvester McCoy was a real low-point, but I actually liked the slight crappiness from the first 37 odd years, and the endless running from enemy to ally and back again.

Russell, please watch some of the old episodes again, and bring back some of the spirit we know and love. BTW, that episode in the series that just finished, where the Tardis turned up on a space ship falling into the sun or something, absolute CRAP, and everyone I know thought so too.

Thought that was Joan Bakewell ... or is FK "TMC-NG" ?

And what about Stephanie Flanders ?

What if they got Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale in as NON-pvc-clad goth vampiresses, would that tempt you back?

...is the new Bonnie Langford.

I say bring back Ace. And do another tale like the Two/Three/Five Doctors. But don't invite Colin Baker if it's filmed in the Beeb's studios, because they're a short hop away from the regional Greggs HQ and he'd eat all the pies in South East Wales.

Never mind the performance - the character alone was so unlikeable my eyes tried to escape out the back of my head.

I'd pay hard cash to see the Dr team with with Ms Taites Old Woman persona, I'd proably bust a gut laughing. :):)

how about the Tardis being rammed by the Titanic? what a fantastic storymaker RTD is (when did they say they were all quitting?)

"And will Mr T Davies write in some more gay material ... for what used to be family viewing?"

Please explain to us less enlightened souls how an occasional piece of 'gay innuendo' (stop sniggering at the back) and a male character who flirts with everyone makes a show unfit for family viewing in a way 'straight innuendo' and a male character who flirts with all female characters doesn't? Are you American or something?

"absolute CRAP, and everyone I know thought so too."

Well I am sure your Mum and Dad agreed with you after all they raised you to be a pompous, homophobic twit so I am sure they are the same.

I've just come over all funny at the thought of Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale as PVC clad goth vampires...

That it will be 10 episodes of dross, 2 fairly good ones and 1 cracker written by Steven Moffat.

How come everybody is slating Catherine Tate yet seems to neglect Kylie has starred in classics as: Neighbours, Street Fighter and Bio-dome?

......Mr T Davis reads El Reg you know? May I suggest you try discussing your concerns at http://www.russelltdavies.com/ as he has one of those messageboard things. I'm sure he ocassionally peruses it while rolling round in piles of money.

Although on the off chance you are reading, Russell, can I just add that I would rather shoot myself in the face with an elephant gun than watch Catherine Tate ruin what was turning out to be pretty good saturday night viewing.

Best, probably the most iconic character. Apart from Mr Pineapple-Head.

Such a shame that nobody here has a good word for the good Doctor. I've loved every episode bar none - I couldn't say that about the old old series.

Sounds to me like the negative contributors here are all too cool for school.

I don't know what's more amazing - the fact that each episode is so interesting and entertaining, or the consistency with which Russell T & co are able to serve them up. It's the only thing worth watching on TV - mine has been and will be dormant 'til Xmas.

...annoys me as apparently it's money that stops them going everywhere else. "It's too expensive for the effects". Bollocks. we all used to watch and totally enjoy Doctor Who when we *knew* full well they were running around a quary pretending to be on the planet xxxarghk. It makes no difference to us, we're watching it and enjoying the story anyway. Get a grip Davies! Thanks for bringing it back n'all but now sling yer hook - it's time to give it to someone else with (dare I say it) more imagination...

Is a tart, not a crumpet.

There were 3 good episodes last series. Guess who wrote them? That's the answer Russel.

Anyway, if Freema comes back at some point in the next series as I believe she's supposed to, sadly she'll have undergone the Torchwood experience and will be trying to snog Tate half the time (!)

of people who think Catherine Tate is going to be the death knell of Dr Who.

Catherine Tate has been the worst choice ever: nothing can compensate for that (sorry Kylie, no offense). O yeah, that last episode, with the Doctor shrinking and the whole planet chanting: that sucked so immensely, it fell nearly into itself. It was embarrassing to watch.

Ah, but Kylie is magic, she makes them "feel strange", but after they've felt themselves again they're back to normal.

Glad to see the BBC aren't pebble-dashing an already pisswater weak show with "stars" to carry it through yet another excrutiating series. Michael Grade had the right idea, though I doubt he saw this coming...who just thought Dr Who was shit.

If David Tennant had an ounce of integrity he'd walk right off this project, as it is he will preside a bloody embarrassing pile of drivel. When will the BBC learn that celebrity does not equal quality? People *became* celebrities as a result of the success of shows past. I mean...Catherine Tate? Where did she cut her teeth in drama...getting a former Prime Minister to say "am i bovvered"? And lets not forget Kylie Minogue's illustrious acting heritage, what with a stint in Neighbours followed by a thousand years of performing songs that make you want to stand in front of a train an' all. I can understand the appointment of Ben Kingsley (sir)...at least he partially resembles Davros...

Jesus, I feel like I'm going mad. What a crock of shite.

...the Ood weren't technically an enemy. I'm not going to geek everyone out any further.

We really should wait and see how Tate does. I thought she was apalling before but then again Billie Piper was apalling in her first episode... you have to give people time to get used to the character a bit.

RTD is leaving after Series 4 anyway... so I guess you'll all get what you want (the death of Doctor Who again)

>There were 3 good episodes last series. Guess who

>wrote them? That's the answer Russel.

Nah - disagree. Best episode of the last series was Blink with the Weeping Angels, written my Stephen Moffat. The 3 episode finale which was rubbish - that was Russell...

I've never seen Tate, so I can't comment. But I love Freeman. She's a skilled actor and, as someone else pointed out, very pleasing to the eye.

Since Kylie said she was giving up on thongs, I really haven't watched her (actually, never did before).

And Gerrit, how about a spoiler warning! We just had the episode with the Darlek-human hybrids here. Torchwood is coming, although not to SciFi. I guess they thought it had too much science fiction content and not enough monsters and rasslin'

Maybe amid the flurry of time-and-space travel I missed something but how is this the fourth series of something that has been running for several decades and with lots of different actors in the leading role?

Or is it the fourth series of the *New* Doctor Who? Am I just too old to understand this?

Why is Dr. Who joining the rest of the media in pandering to worthless celebrities. Rahter than paying their inflated fees they should spend the money on effects, or just save license payers money.

As for Tate - why?

Tim: The three episodes RTD wrote last season were the first one (space rhinos!), the ridiculous one with the flying cars stuck in traffic, and the three-part finale where the Doctor turns into Dobby the House elf. Hardly gripping viewing.

Meanwhile, the best episode was the one with the weeping angels, written by Steven Moffat from Coupling. Can't we have him instead of RTD and the girl from that ep instead of Catherine Tate?

By Alan GregsonPosted Friday 10th August 2007 11:57 GMT

"I've just come over all funny at the thought of Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale as PVC clad goth vampires..."

lucky old "all funny" ...

... those of a certain age remember Adric - 'nuff said ?

(Although Nyssa did make up for him !)

is about as funny as Aids. You would shoot a dog if it was that useless!!!

Firstly, I won't be watching any Doctor Who that isn't available on DVD, because I don't own a Tivo, and BBC America won't adjsut their schedule to accomodate me, for some silly reason.

Secondly, I'd like to express a preference for curvy women (preferably with acting talent, if they're going to be on one of my favorite shows), and an abhorrence of the "Twiggy types" I see all too much of. The first "Avengers" was marvelous for that (yes, I really am that old).

Echoing all the comments about Tate. BAD idea. I didn't like her sniveling in Runaway Bride and certainly won't like more of her.

I must commend the current production (and those behind it) for reviving the show and giving us two memorable Doctors. By and large the stories (at least the ones available to us here across the pond) are interesting and exciting - although I miss the multi-part stories of yesteryear wherein the writer had sufficient screen time to properly flesh out a story.

Furthermore, I agree wholeheartedly with an earlier poster about a new multi-Doctor story, ideally one with (Tom) Baker, Davidson, Eccleston, and Tennant.

@Dillon Pyron

Sorry, just sorry.. what can I say? Feel glad you're expectations won't be too high? Or just high? Just don't expect anything worth watching. I haven't met _anyone_ confessing to having enjoyed it.

Bring back Blakes 7, now that was gone on a tiny budget

Well it's a children's programme, at the end of the day. I know that children like Catherine Tate's characters, if their parents let them watch her show. I'm certainly looking forward to it.

(Runs and hides from chubby geeks... escapes easily).

We're a season behind in the States, and I didn't even know who Catherine Tate was until I Googled her. I remember the episode she was in as the bride. Ack! I must protest. I've been watching Dr. Who since it first aired on PBS, and Catherine Tate is not a proper sidekick. Remember, the first rule of Dr. Who's assistant is she should not have an ass that is bigger than The Doctor's. This is clearly not the case with Ms. Tate.

Oh for heavens sake people, give the woman a chance.

Just imagine, you are going down the isle on your wedding day and you are *kidnapped* by some weirdo in a police box. And then the person you thought loved you turns out to be a sidekick for a serious spider thing. How are you supposed to react?

I thought the character adapted well and there are some interesting possibilities available.

> Well it's a children's programme, at the end of the day.

Absolutely.

Weighty objects should be flung maliciously at Russell for Torchwood [including the crime of using 13+ Dr Who episodes to advertise the tripe when he could have had another "bad wolf" link across them. Now watch those "Have we said Torchwood enough yet?" episodes serves only to remind us how bad it was an thus ruins them too]

But Doctor Who is like Star Wars - it's for kids, so if you were alive for 4, 5 and 6, it's no surprise you wouldn't enjoy U-rated movies today. Another similarity is that Lucas is like RTD in the sense they are both deluded about their own ability, probably the fault of an ego from past successes and the inability to realise the true cause of the past success. So he took until the 3rd film to realise his target audience of "original star wars fans" weren't a U audience any more - although as we can see from some comments here, he's no less intelligence than that audience most of them don't know it either and still went only to be disappointed. D'oh. [and yeah, I'm sure lots of adults went to see the first movies, but they are dead or close enough to it to not be part of a new audience and they were either disappointed and going along with the hype or merely taking their kids]

Just about everything in the classic dr who episodes [writing, acting, production] is absolute 100% tripe. UK Gold shows them and they are laughable. You could make better old Dr Who episodes today with a camcorder, a few egg boxes and a packet of cling film c/w adobe premier. Soundtrack? Audacity will easily compete with the Radiophonic workshop of the day

The same is true of Blake's 7, watch again - and bear in mind a feeling of nostalgia you might get if you do - aka a large chunk of what makes Peter Kay's comedy routine work, isn't the same as thinking "wow this was really as good as I thought" It's not.

In that respect what the BBC have done with Dr Who is incredible, because it's light years ahead of previous ones. Indeed pick up those heavy objects and throw them at Russ again just to remind us that, given those production values and that opportunity for a show for adults, RTD only managed to produce the tripe that was Torchwood.

Dr Who is inevitably going to be crap from an adult perspective. Yes, even if Kylie is in it, because she won't be astride a mechanical bull in a pair of freebie knickers.

Russell is clearly clueless except in one respect he knows he is clueless and thus has still had a few gems by throwing everything into the pot "celebs" "other writers" "old who cliches and monsters" - realising that we'll forgive the turkeys and cheesy moments [and there are loads of them, even from a more valid kids' perspective] so long as a few out of the 13 are gems.

He could have had a superlative 3rd series if he'd had enough of a clue to retrospectively know which episodes of the first 2 series were actually good. But he didn't, so he has to stick to trying everything, and this time more failed [especially with his worst idea, which is believing himself to be a decent writer]

Another downside was that Billie left so he had to rinse+repeat the themes and plots from series one and two with Billie's replacement "Oh so you're an alien" "Oh so this box is bigger on the inside" "It can travel through space and time" "Really?" "Really, Really" "You goin' with that Doctor instead of being with your mum?" rather than developing an existing companion and family.

As for CT, she over acted in parts of that Xmas episode, but not all her characters are over acted by any stretch. Nevertheless the best characters throughout the new series of Doctor who have been the none "celeb" actors. It doesn't need celeb actors, indeed it doesn't really need any of the cliche dr who things. It just needs decent writing and acting [as they've got the production sorted]. The best episode of this series [which as someone said, was the weeping angels one] showed that.

I quite fancy Catherine Tate...

Surely the point of having a tellytubby like Catherine Tate in the show is that she makes a nice unsympathetic victim for one of the monsters to eat? I'm thinking of something like the giant insect Zarbi from Patrick Troughton days, ripping her up and sucking her blood and fat dry. Now THAT would be an episode worth watching.

Or maybe have her impregnated by a parasitic alien lothario and have her explode on screen while giving birth? That would give the special effects boys something fun to put together.